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Sirius Black
BACKGROUND The world Sirius comes from is much like our own, only it's London in 1975 and there's a self-contained secret society of wizards in it. Very much a part of that secret society, Sirius comes from what is basically wizarding nobility, and has had very little contact with "normal" (or "muggle") society. By and by, wizarding society is pretty easy-going, if rather on the reckless side of things. There's a Minister for Magic who interfaces with the larger British government, but other than that, they police themselves and if one or two muggles have to have their memory adjusted because some fool decided to breed hippogriffs in his backyard, well that's nothing too unusual. What is unusual is the rise of a dark wizard who styles himself Lord Voldemort, who is more or less the wizard version of Hitler and is calling other wizards who don't much like playing nice with muggles together to begin sowing chaos and overthrowing the system. Things aren't bad yet, but people are starting to die. Sirius's family has long held themselves superior to muggles and any wizards with muggle blood in them, in a very snooty aristocratic way. They believe in blood purity to the point that Sirius's parents are actually first cousins because no one else was worthy of marrying them, and needless to say, they are picking up what Voldemort is putting down. Sirius, on the other hand, is adamantly not. His early childhood was unhappy, living under the strict rule of two parents who placed their lineage as their highest priority. Under his parent's watchful eye, he learned to identify every piece of cutlery that might ever grace a table, knows a generous number of waltzes and reels, can sit a horse, can recite his family tree back to the Middle Ages, and was privately tutored in French, Latin and Ancient Greek as well as other topics deemed important for a young wizard of quality to know. Sirius was isolated from all but a few other well-bred (and largely dull and spoiled) children, and his younger brother Regulus, eager for attention and approval, soaked up their beliefs like a sponge and soon became no better or more interesting than the other pampered pure-bloods. His other childhood companions included his cousins Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa, of whom only Andromeda showed a glimmer of independant thought. She was his favorite, but he wouldn't have a true friend until he turned 11. At that age, all children with magical abilities in Great Britain (whether they've ever heard of magic or not) are invited to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a boarding school in a whopping big magical castle, and basically taught to weild their powers and (theoretically) to get along with one another and at least be able to pretend to sometimes look mature and thoughtful. They are educated in Arithmancy, Charms, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration, and a number of other things until the age of 17, at which point they're considered adults. Students are taught by year, as and there are an average of 40 students a year, they are also sorted into "Houses" by personality, to make the 280 or so of them more manageable. Each House has its own dormitory, divided by genders and by years, and its own faculty mentor. The most courageous students go into Gryffindor, the most loyal students go into Hufflepuff, the cleverest students go into Ravenclaw, and the most sly students go into Slytherin. This basically means, painted in the broadest stroke possible, that all the good people are in Gryffindor, all the bad people are in Slytherin, and everyone else is boring and either in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff depending on how bookish they are. I would like to say that the author established these House-based profiles and then illustrated how each person is different and blah blah blah, but no that's a true rule of thumb. The Blacks had all always gone to Slytherin, and Sirius's real rebellion started when he got himself sorted into Griffindor. There, suddenly surrounded by other children who were not all frustrating and useless, Sirius found his truest family in the form of James Potter, another boy in his year who was as mischevious and clever as he was, and they quickly became inseperable. They also adopted Remus Lupin, who was smart but odd and sickly, and Peter Pettigrew who wasn't as bright but was game for whatever mischief they came up with, and the four of them formed a tight group, calling themselves the Marauders. James had also made an instant nemesis in the form of a weird little Slytherin named Severus "Snivellus" Snape, the hatred of whom Sirius happily adopted. He did not adopt James's equally-instant infatuation with a girl in their year named Lily Evans who semed to be friends with Snivellus, though she'd been sorted into Gryffindor so she couldn't be all bad. James and Sirius very quickly developed reputations for being rather brilliant students (when they bothered) and also complete troublemakers. The Marauders soon found out the cause of Remus's strange illness: he was a werewolf. Finding out that a kid you sleep in the same room with occasionally turns into a huge, vicious, horrible, contagious monster was something of a surprise (especially given how...tetchy Remus was normally), but Sirius and James decided that 1) the kid couldn't help it, and 2) their friend was a werewolf, how brilliant was that, and 3) Remus really really really really needed friends. James and Sirius were many things, but they were always excellent friends. They proved that beyond the shadow of a doubt by throwing their keen minds and youthful enthusiasm into doing something very illegal and very dangerous: they learned an advanced transfiguration technique that would allow them to willingly turn into animals so that Remus would have company during the full moon. Wizards who can do this are called Animagi and the Ministry is very keen on making them register the ability, first because if you know someone nearby can turn into a cat you might close your window before having a sensitive conversation, and so that they can keep an eye out and make sure Mr. Jones doesn't get nicked one night by a muggle pound and euthanized. In any case, the boys were 1) messing with magic that no fifth year could be expected to understand, much less cast, and 2) working under pure assumption that a werewolf would not attack an animal the way that they (very aggressively) went after people. Fortunately, between James and Sirius, the three of them pulled it off, and doubly-fortunately, they were right about the wolf. Animagi don't pick an animal, they turn into something somehow appropriate to their essential natures. James turned into a stag (reflecting his noble nature), Sirius turned into a big black dog (reflecting his fun-loving loyalty and his name) and Peter turned into a rat (and somehow they didn't figure out what this reflected in him, but for purposes of this app, we'll say they figured it was resourcefulness.) It wasn't all magic and cleverness, though. Their feud with Snivellus was only escalating, as the kid was not only more than happy to return their hatred, he was persistent, devious and clever, and simply would not let up on finding out what was up with Remus's "illness" that kept him disappearing once a month. Granted, James and Sirius did nothing but antagonize him and encourage this hatred. This came to a rather dramatic head just after a serious of rigorous exams toward the end of their fifth year. Acting purely out of boredom, James ambushed Severus and subjected him to some seriously humiliating public torment for Sirius's amusement. When Lily called them out for being right little monsters, Snape lashed out at her as well, calling her a terrible name and ending their friendship. They brought out the worst in him, and he in they, and at the end of the day, everyone came away lessened for it. MORE GOES HERE. PERSONALITY Sirius has the generosity to love or hate whatever and whoever he wants to, the arrogance to disregard the opinions of most other people, and the confidence to stand by his convictions. He's is a mass of contradictions, but he's never let that slow him down. He was raised the scion of one of the oldest, proudest wizarding families. He was born with every advantage and opportunity, groomed to be the perfect young lordling, and he has kept no small part of the self-centered arrogance inherent in growing up swathed in luxury. His family also a history of explosive tempers, and he is no exception, which is doubly dangerous when coupled with his deep streak of recklessness. His common sense tends to take a back seat to his emotions on the best of days, but when he's riled up he acts without thinking about the consequences for anyone, friend or foe. Very little in his life has encouraged him to think better: he's charismatic, good-looking and clever, and he has gotten away with far too much in his life because of it. He therefore has little respect for authority save from figures who have directly earned his respect, and there is no question that he considers himself above the law when acting for what he perceives to be the right reasons. Or if he's bored. It doesn't help that he really is (nearly) as good as he thinks he is. Naturally bright and adept at magic, Sirius is perfectly capable of studying, but because he rarely has to put serious effort into his schoolwork in order to excel in the important things (read: subjects he personally cares about) he tends toward laziness and is only more arrogant when others have to struggle to keep up with him. This arrogance is expressed more or less playfully, depending on how much he likes the other person. This natural aptitude can also be a double-edged sword: it's one other area of his life that he gets benefits out of without discipline, and without discipline he doesn't always understand what he's doing. Sirius is at a higher risk of having spells cast experimentally or in anger manifest unpredictably than most wizards. Underneath it all, however, is his saving grace: his ability to love others, and love deeply. For love, he will sit and study all night in order to figure out a way to help his friends. For love, he will hold his tongue and his temper in check. For love, he will recognize his mistakes and apologize. For love, he will sit patiently and help others every step of the way. Because of his lonely childhood, he has a particular soft spot for the odd man out, and he goes out of his way to make those he likes laugh and smile. Sirius learned at a very young age that "good" and "evil" cannot be defined by social norms or prejudices, and so he truly does judge others based on their actions and the character he perceives in them. For those who act hatefully to others he has nothing but contempt (even though he himself can be extremely spiteful and bullying - the irony of that is still lost to him, which is why he does it) but to anyone who shows a noble spirit and a good heart, Sirius is a stalwart friend through thick and thin, and trusts his friends utterly. He is also thoughtlessly generous in the way of someone who's never had to be concerned about money, and enjoys giving gifts and sharing what he has. He's about a 1 on the Kinsey Scale, as far as sexuality goes. He's most physically attracted to women, but his closest emotional bonds are with other men. He's thus become a bit of a nightmare when it comes to girls' hearts, and he sees the game of romance as just that: a fun game. That his words and actions can have serious and negative impact on other people's lives is not something Sirius was good at remembering even before he boarded the little adolescent hormone train. He likes muggle things in the way that American kids like Japanese things: they're cool and exotic but he doesn't necessarily grasp (or even have a real interest in) the culture they come from. He's a bit rough-and-tumble, to go with his recklessness: Sirius likes getting his hands dirty and a bloody nose and bruised ribs are small prices to pay in the name of glory. Glory is important: his prime motivator at this time is impressing his best friend James, and everyone else to a lesser extent. This certainly leads to a lot of responsible decision-making. POWERS Sirius was born with the innate ability to influence the world around him through magic! This means that he would and can still do magic even without a wand, it's just harder to manifest and control. There are different kinds of magic available: Charms, which is to say all spells cast using an incantation and a wand; Transfiguration, the art of turning a thing into another thing using a wand; Potions, the art of combining ingredients in a cauldron to create magical elixers and such; Divination, gleaning prophecies and omens about the future; Arithmancy, I'm going to handwave that this is some sort of basic math plus numerology because it's never described in the books. Same with Runes, which I will say is related to enchanting objects by inscribing spells into them. With runes. Like you do. Sirius is a natural: magic is simply in his blood. Transfiguration is his strongest skill, and he can cast most of its spells silently and many without a wand. Sirius is also particularly good at enchanting items with magical powers - there's the infamous motorbike of course, and the Marauder's Map, but he was also enchanting mirrors to act as two-way communicators before Padfoot was even a twinkle in his eye. He's also skilled at hexes, jinxes and their counters - years of antagonism with crafty little Snape started him on the path to an impressive repetoire of combative magic, and his time in the Order of the Phoenix refined and broadened his ability. All the same, there are a lot of spells that Sirius no longer remembers well, since he spent so many years of his life in a prison, lost to magic. He is no longer so good with Charms, and his Patronus is weak and cast only with difficulty. (And yes, it's a big silvery canine.) Animagus: Sirius's alter ego is a massive Belgian shepherd named Padfoot, which he can shift into at will, including all clothes and objects he was carrying at a time. Padfoot enjoys many things, but nothing quite so much as having his ears scratched, digging through dustbins, chasing squirrels and eating. Not necessarily in that order. It is really really really really hard to cast spells as a dog, since he obviously can't speak or use a wand so he basically has to just will the spell through with his mind, and the level of concentration he'd need for that is basically impossible since he is constantly surrounded by smells. Smells are very distracting. Padfoot is still Sirius. He can approximate human reasoning pretty closely, and do things like perform complex tasks that do not include food, and remember things like Mrs. Potter's first name, even though such things seem significantly less important to him in that form. Relitionships Blokes * Harry Potter - Equal parts godson and surrogate best friend, Sirius's relationship with Harry is only going to get more complicated, especially since Harry can't seem to believe that Sirius's love actually is unconditional. * Charlie B. Barkin - Dogs who like motorcycles. Check. * Edward Elric - An alchemist who doesn't believe in magic? Kid needs help. Birds * Emmeline Vance - Old war buddies. Sirius never saw is war through, and her war is through with her. * Avdotya Karkaroffa - People keep telling Sirius that he'll meet Blacks and Malfoys here whom he will like, but he didn't really believe it until it happened. * Magdalen Kohlrabi - His instincts told her she was trouble, but he didn't listen. Poor boy, he thinks she's harmless and sweet. Category:Characters Category:Resurrected